Australian rapper Iggy Azalea was reportedly one of more than 70 people who wrote Tory Lanez a letter of support ahead of his sentencing in the shooting of Megan Thee Stallion.
Lanez (legal name Daystar Peterson), 31, has been in jail since 23 December 2022 after a jury convicted him of first-degree assault, discharge of a firearm with gross negligence and having a concealed and unregistered firearm in a vehicle.
Fellow rapper Megan Thee Stallion had accused Lanez of shooting her in the foot in a July 2020 incident.
During the court hearing on Monday (7 August), Judge Herriford briefly summarised the numerous letters of support he had received for Lanez, one of which came from Azalea, according to court reporter Meghann Cuniff.
Cuniff – who has earned the affectionate monicker “Megan Thee Reporter” from Megan’s fans during the longwinded trial – said Herriford told the court that Azalea’s letter asked him to impose a sentence “that is transformational, not life-destroying”.
The Independent has contacted Azalea’s representatives for comment.
Among the letters, Cuniff also reported that a jailer wrote to say that Lanez “is remorseful” and has “talked in detail about the event and what he could have done to prevent it”.
Iggy Azalea (left) and Tory Lanez— (Getty Images)
Los Angeles prosecutors are seeking a 13-year prison sentence for Lanez, who also faces deportation to his native Canada. An official sentencing is expected later today, which his lawyers plan to appeal.
Megan The Stallion (real name Megan Pete) testified during the trial that Lanez had shot a handgun towards the back of her feet and told her to “dance b****” after she got out of his SUV and walked away from it. The pair had left a party at Kylie Jenner’s Hollywood Hills home.
She required surgery to remove bullet fragments from her feet and alleged Lanez offered her $1m (£830,000) to stay quiet about the incident as he was on probation.
Los Angeles prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum that along with the crimes for which he was convicted, Lanez has re-traumatised Megan with social media posts about the case that emboldened many among his more than 2 million followers to attack her.
In April, Megan spoke for the final time about being shot by Lanez and the public reaction to the shooting.
Explaining that she saw herself as a “survivor, because I have truly survived the unimaginable” rather than a “victim”, Megan said that she’d had to face her trauma being turned into a “running joke”.
“I understand the public intrigue, but for the sake of my mental health, I don’t plan to keep reliving the most traumatic experience of my life over and over again. I’m choosing to change the narrative because I’m more than just my trauma,” she said.
